26 replies to this topic

[peter kropotk]

Can someone have a stab at identifying this opposite-locking 4-door that's being maltreated?

http://www.oldstox.c...ges/harryp5.jpg

It has an attractive "upright" cabin, but I cannot put a make to it. Thanks!

[Catalina Park]

Edited by Catalina Park, 23 July 2011 - 05:31.

[peter kropotk]

I know, I know. I am guilty. But you see I LIKE comic sans serif.
May I at least retain the dark blue font colour?

Meanwhile, I'd be grateful for an id on that saloon!

[peter kropotk]

Can someone have a stab at identifying this opposite-locking 4-door that's being maltreated?

http://www.oldstox.c...ges/harryp5.jpg

It has an attractive "upright" cabin, but I cannot put a make to it. Thanks!

I have now compared that stock car to a 1930/31 Ford A Tudor, which is close; but this car seems to be a little lower and longer have a small "boot". Could it be a Daimler? [/size]

[D-Type]

Where was the photo taken? Australia?

[Bloggsworth]

I know, I know. I am guilty. But you see I LIKE comic sans serif.
May I at least retain the dark blue font colour?

Meanwhile, I'd be grateful for an id on that saloon!

But it is we who have to read it - Why waste all that effort on the typeface, spend the time on learning how to post pictures.

That said, all I can tell you is that it isn't me in my 1936 Rover 10.

Edited by Bloggsworth, 23 July 2011 - 17:03.

[David McKinney]

Perhaps a Cadillac or La Salle

Pity we can't see the radiator grille

[peter kropotk]

Perhaps a Cadillac or La Salle

Pity we can't see the radiator grille

The photograph was taken at Brafield Stadium, Northamptonshire, UK in 1955.
The line of the running boards/wings, the sidelights on the front wings, and the hint of a "boot" separate it from a Ford Tudor.

I apologize for the mess of my postings up to this point. Back to normality!

[Ray Bell]

That's a very long engine bay...

It's no volume seller, IMO.

[David McKinney]

Kinda what I was getting at, Ray

[GMACKIE]

It could well be a Stutz.

Edit: The 'BB' had a 5 litre straight 8, hence the long bonnet. [Buggered if I'm calling it a 'hood'!]

Edited by GMACKIE, 23 July 2011 - 21:48.

[arttidesco]

Is this not a Blood Pressure issue ?

[GMACKIE]

Is this not a Blood Pressure issue ?

Starting to get that way!

[E1pix]

I vote Cadillac, around 1930 vintage.

[driverider]

shades of our old Hupmobile but running boards a little different

[seldo]

How about this '32 La Salle. Note that the original photo depicts a 4-light body not a 6-light as worn by Lanchester and many others
http://www.google.co... ...m5Dw&zoom=1

Edited by seldo, 24 July 2011 - 06:02.

[mikeC]

The body style shouts English coachbuilt to me, so the chassis could just about be anything... but I think I'll go for a mid-thirties Bentley

[Levin68]

It couldn't be, could it? '32 Packard (well, the image tag says so)

[mikeC]

I don't think so - the moulding lines round the waist/windscreen area doesn't have the pressed form of an American steel body, more like a hand-formed ally on timber frame. The wing line too is early thirties English, rather than American...

[peter kropotk]

It couldn't be, could it? '32 Packard (well, the image tag says so)

There's a probability it could be a Packard because four or five drivers were racing Packards in the 1955-59 era, sometimes re-bodied with cut down Morris bodywork --- it was the unstressed flathead V-12 that first attracted stock car racers. But interestingly, most later abandoned them because on shale tracks the motors were overkill.
But I also agree that in this particular photgraph, the bodywork appears to be lower-slung and slightly longer than the Packard - maybe the camera and perspective?

Bentleys too were raced. Here is a 6.5 litre Bentley (but a six-window) stock car at Belle Vue in 1955. "The horror, the horror": http://www.oldstox.c.....Belle Vue.jpg

I thank the contributors to this thread. Will anyone else put in a vote for Packard?

[David McKinney]

Bentleys too were raced. Here is a 6.5 litre Bentley (but a six-window) stock car at Belle Vue in 1955. "The horror, the horror":

...and they used Bugattis for the same purpose in France

[Ray Bell]

I think it was pretty good when we had Buicks and Terraplanes...

But Fords were the big-number machines.

[David McKinney]

Fords and Chevvies seemed to make up 90% of NZ fields

[Ray Bell]

I don't recall seeing many Chevs, but there must have been some...

Not many Holdens, either!

[peter kropotk]

How about this '32 La Salle. Note that the original photo depicts a 4-light body not a 6-light as worn by Lanchester and many others
http://www.google.co... ...m5Dw&zoom=1

"Seldo", you are right; thank you for finding that.
Here, comparing the two, is another 1932 LaSalle photo that proves it beyond doubt:
http://apps.detnews....allery=carofday vs
http://www.oldstox.c...ges/harryp5.jpg

The running boards, wings, sidelights, trunk, windscreen, all match. The Cadillac suggestion is close, as I believe the LaSalle and Cadillac were built side by side, using the same engine?
I can't say how much I appreciate the help that's given on this forum, on top of the pleasure of everyday browsing.
Now, dare I tell the LaSalle Preservation Society (there's bound to be one) about that poor car in 1955?

[peter kropotk]

[quote name='peter kropotk' date='Jul 25 2011, 15:59' post='5192163']
Everyone who has contributed --- in the last 10 minutes the car's history has arrived post-haste. A couple of posters here were on the right track as regards a "quality British" identity.
An earlier suggestion that I had accepted was a LaSalle, but ALas ---

It is a Lagonda M45 saloon, circa 1933, wih a 4.5 L six-cylinder Meadows engine owned and raced by Cal Wills of Doncaster, and would once have appeared thus:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/albertsbite/5758655999/
A detail clue on the stock car, is a visible "shelf" below the front wing, which was a support for the spare wheel.
http://www.oldstox.com/images/harryp5.jpg

My informant watched this car race in 1955, and recalls that Cal Wills favoured Lagondas, and once even adapted a V-12 Lagonda-engined fire truck to stock car racing. If Cal had instead preserved the car and hung onto life for a further 55 years, he would have enjoyed more money --- but less fun at either age.

[David McKinney]

Cracked it at last

I was sure it was American